Raghav Chadha: ‘India is not safe in BJP hands… BJP is unable to handle Haryana and Manipur… either it is complacent or complicit’

Are all the Opposition parties on board in demanding the President’s rule in Manipur. The memorandum the Opposition parties submitted to the President made no mention of the President’s rule.

The Aam Aadmi Party is demanding President’s rule and suspension of the N Biren Singh government. It is a complete failure of the double-engine government. Both Manipur and Centre have BJP-run governments and both governments have miserably failed in providing peace, harmony and security to the people of Manipur, a critical border state. And most of all I think Manipur explains to us that BJP is incapable of providing security to this country. India is not safe in the hands of BJP, whether you take the example of Manipur or Haryana.

One of the central issues for the AAP in this Parliament session is the NCT Bill. The BJD and YSRCP have announced that they will support the Bill. So you don’t have a situation where you can force a close vote in the Rajya Sabha.

For YSRCP and BJD, I can only say that ‘kuch to majburiya rahi hongi yuhi koi bewafa nahi hota, bahut dil karta hai sach kahne ko lekin kya kare hausla nahin hota.’ They must have had their own compulsions. What are the compulsions they are undergoing is something that only they can discuss and ponder upon. We can only say that this is an anti-national legislation. Those who support this legislation will forever be termed as anti-nationals and those who oppose this will be called deshbhakts. I am not viewing this from the prism of Delhi city context, I am viewing this Bill from the perspective of a pan-India context. If this Bill, this experiment is successful in Delhi, then the BJP will also replicate it in various non-BJP-ruled states and take away powers of the elected government. This is my view a dharamyudh where dharm is with us and adharm is with the BJP. And, on numbers, I do hope that in this dharamyudh the powers of this entire universe will rally behind us to ensure that this Bill stands defeated because we are fighting for the right cause.

The AAP supported the scrapping of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. The rights of a state, most of the Opposition parties believe, was taken away then too.

First of all that came about in a jiffy. It wasn’t even circulated and included in the list of business. That is perhaps why the parties of Jammu and Kashmir did not get the time to mobilise support for this. As far as the Delhi ordinance is concerned there has been ample time and notice for all parties and therefore we have reached out to all parties seeking support. If they would have reached out to other political parties seeking support then other parties may have given support. I don’t know, I can’t second-guess what parties would have done. But, as far as we are concerned, my leader Mr Kejriwal went to every single part of this country, knocked the doors of every political party seeking their support for the Delhi Bill and we have got support from several political parties. The entire INDIA bloc is supporting us on this and I do hope that we will be able to defeat this.

Many parties and members of the Rajya Sabha are said to be unhappy with the Chairman. Some parties even want a no-confidence motion to be brought against him.

My personal view is that he is a very honourable man and I have the highest amount of respect for the individual that he is. I share a very cordial relationship with him. However our fight is with the government, with those who are the political executive in the government and therefore our continuous struggle within the House this time has been to have a debate on a critical issue like Manipur. It is the government that is running away from a debate. If the government accepts today that yes, we are willing to debate under rule 267 on the Manipur issue, I am very sure the Chairman will convene a discussion. The Chairman is not a stakeholder in this. He doesn’t have a skin in the game. It is the Opposition and those sitting on the Treasury benches that have a skin in the game. Therefore we are urging the government, and we are every day exposing the government’s commitment to discussion on Manipur. More than 60 notices are submitted every single day in Rajya Sabha seeking a discussion under Rule 267. That means more than 25 per cent of the total strength of Rajya Sabha every single day… and perhaps 50 per cent of the sitting members at that point in time in Rajya Sabha, are filing notices to have a discussion under Rule 267. If the government is actually willing to have a discussion they should accept one of these notices.

On the ground, will the people be able to understand the difference between rule 267 and rule 176. On television, senior ministers are saying every day that they are ready for a discussion and that the Opposition is blocking it.

I agree. And therefore the message that needs to go out is that the difference between what the government is willing to give and what the Opposition is seeking is that the government is saying that there will be a short duration discussion…And rule 267 gives the Opposition benches an opportunity to censure the government. A long discussion will give all of us an opportunity to look into the Manipur situation in detail. And this is not the first time a discussion will be held under rule 267. Former Prime Ministers – from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh – have several times acceded to the demand of the Opposition and offered discussion on 267. Discussions have happened and prime ministers have participated. Is the Opposition asking for the moon? Are heavens going to fall if the government accepts a long-duration discussion on a critical issue like this. My question is, if Manipur were not a two Lok Sabha seat state but an 80-member Lok Sabha seat state, would the Government of India and the BJP not have got very concerned. If Manipur had more representation in the Rajya Sabha, would the government not have taken cognisance of what is happening. The BJP perhaps feels that politically it is unimportant in the larger scheme of the number game in the Lok Sabha that they are ignoring Manipur…they are either complacent or complicit.

What happened in neighbouring Haryana… Does it not worry the Opposition?

It is a very troublesome picture in this country today where one state (Manipur), a critical border state, is burning because of a clash between two communities – which is almost being termed as ethnic cleansing and the state administration is absolutely complacent – and on the other hand, you have something in Haryana where communal clashes are taking place, where the government again is complacent. And both these administrations whether it is in Manipur or Haryana, both are run by the BJP. So this double-engine government is providing double brutality and double harassment and double exploitation to the people of the state. These are the exact same people who used to question us when we got into office in Punjab. I used to be hammered with questions on how will you control the law and order of Punjab…it is a very precarious state. Now look at Punjab…the state is absolutely peaceful. Law and order has improved by leaps and bounds. But their own states of Haryana and Manipur, they are unable to handle. So either the BJP is complacent when it comes to law and order or they are complicit….They are involved in all these activities.